The present invention relates to densified particulate materials and the use of such materials, as either all or a part of the material being smoked, in smoking products, such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes, tobacco, and the like, as well as pipe and/or cigarette-type smoking articles. Preferably, these densified particulate materials are selected from tobacco and/or carbon.
Many tobacco substitute smoking materials have been proposed through the years, especially over the last 20 to 30 years. These proposed tobacco substitutes have been prepared from a wide variety of treated and untreated materials, especially cellulose based materials. Numerous patents teach proposed tobacco substitutes made by modifying cellulosic materials, such as by oxidation, by heat treatment, or by the addition of materials to modify the properties of the cellulose. One of the most complete lists of these substitutes is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,742 to Rainer et al.
Many patents describe the preparation of proposed smoking materials from various types of carbonized (i.e., pyrolyzed) cellulosic material. These include U.S. Pat. No. 2,907,686 to Siegel, U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,374 to Bennett, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,943,941 and 4,044,777 to Boyd et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,019,521 and 4,133,317 to Briskin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,031 to Rainer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,604 to Ehretsmann et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,544 to Hardwick et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,958 to Rainer et al., Great Britain Pat. No. 956,544 to Norton, Great Britain Pat. No. 1,431,045 to Boyd et al., and European Patent Application No. 117,355 by Hearn, et al.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,374 to Bennett teaches that tobacco substitutes may be made by extruding carbon or graphite fibers, mat or cloth, most of which are made by the controlled pyrolysis of cellulosic materials, such as rayon yarn or cloth.
Other patents describe the use of carbon or pyrolyzed cellulosic material either as a component of proposed smokable materials or as a filler for such materials. These include U.S. Pat. No. 1,985,840 to Sadtler, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,608,560, 3,831,609, and 3,834,398 to Briskin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,803 to Hedge, U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,574 to Borthwick et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,284 to Miano et al., U.S. Pat No. 3,993,082 to Martin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,104 to Roth, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,244,381 and 4,256,123 to Lendvay et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,072 to Lanzillotti et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,285 to Burnett et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,191 to Steiner.
Still other patents describe the partial pyrolysis of cellulosic materials to prepare proposed smoking materials. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,545,448 and 4,014,349 to Morman et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,818,915, 3,943,942 and 4,002,176 to Anderson, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,742 to Rainer et al.
Densifying equipment is also well documented in both the patent and technical literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,520 (Reissue No. 27,214) to Nakahara, describes an apparatus for making densified spherical granules from cylindrical extrudates of plastic solid materials. Reynolds, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,703 describes an improvement in the Nakahara device. Moriya, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,548,334 and 3,579,719 also describes an improved apparatus for converting pelletized powdered material into spherical granules.
In "Particulate Matter", Powder Advisory Centre, London (1973), J. G. Gebbett describes the process and uses of granulation and spheronization of materials on equipment manufactured by Fuji Paudal KK of Japan and sold under the name "Marumerizer." Likewise, K. S. Murthy et al., in Pharmaceutical Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 4, 19 (1983), describe granulation, spheronization, and densification equipment useful in the art of pharmaceutical compounding. C. W. Woodruff et al., in J. Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 61, No. 5, 787 (1972), describe processing variables in pharmaceutical compounding employing equipment such as the "Marumerizer."
The following additional references are cited as showing general knowledge in the art of compacted carbon products.
Forseth, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,975, describes a method of pelletizing carbon black.
Gunnell, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,736, describes a method of pelletizing carbon black.
Seligman et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,126, describes the pyrolysis of carbohydrates or like cellulosic material to form a pulverized carbon product which is added to a tobacco slurry and formed into cigarettes.
Hisatsugu et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,454 describe a process for the preparation of spherical carbon material containing pitch, amorphous carbon and a viscosity controlling agent.
Rainer et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,958, disclose the formation of carbon rods by forcing paper through a pyrolyzing die. This material is said to be useful as a tobacco substitute.
Pittman et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,765, describe a process for pelletizing mixtures of dark-fired and one-sucker tobacco useful in chewing tobacco. The pellets have a size of about 13 mm.times.7 mm .times.4.5 mm (col. 3, 11. 14-6) and weigh from about 420 to 450 mg.